This is an activity about the states of matter. Learners will participate in a demonstration to reintroduce them to three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. The demonstration also introduces them to a fourth state of matter, plasma, through...(View More) investigation of the properties of volume and shape as they relate to common solids, liquids, and gases, and to the mystery matter later identified at the end as plasma. The demonstration also covers plasma's connection to the Sun and connections to science related to the Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. This activity complements other IBEX informal education materials. The demonstration requires use of a small plasma ball and, ideally, a slightly darkened room so that the plasma ball can be more easily seen. An instructional video explaining how to facilitate this activity is available: http://bit.ly/125ZW5k.(View Less)

In this activity, students will demonstrate the generator effect, which is due to electromagnetic induction when a conductor (a long metal wire) moves through a magnetic field. Materials required to this activity include: a 100-foot extension cord...(View More) with ground prong, current or voltage galvanometer, two lead wires with alligator clips on at least one end, and one compass. This activity must be done in an open space large enough to swing a 100-foot cord as a jump rope, such as a gymnasium or outdoor field. This is activity three of "Exploring Magnetism." The guide includes science background information, student worksheets, glossary and related resources.(View Less)

This is an activity about polarized light. Learners will use a polarizing filter to build and calibrate a simple polarimeter, use the constructed polarimeter to find sources of polarized light, and measure the angle of polarization of polarized...(View More) light sources and attempt to measure the strength of polarization. This activity is from the Touch the Sun educator guide.(View Less)

In this activity, learners will explore the properties of color filters and filter bandpass by observing light sources using diffraction grating and color filters and create a graph of percent transmission versus wavelength to characterize the...(View More) bandpass of the filter. This activity requires various light sources, a diffraction grating, and two or more color filters that are transparent to some wavelengths of light and opaque, or nearly opaque, at other wavelengths. This is an activity in the Touch the Sun educator guide.(View Less)